Winter transfer window 2020/1

[KenjiOgiwara]

I think for a whole bunch of reasons we have to look at the Buendia's and Sarr's of tomorrow. i.e. the ones currently still in domestic leagues and are yet to be snapped up.

Hopefully Lange can do better than Traore going forward.

Edited December 19, 2020 by KenjiOgiwara

[OxfordVillan]

11 hours ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I don't get why people think that. Brpoks, Buendia are more of what Traore and Grealish already offers.

A new winger needs to be a clinical finisher with lots of pace and directness. That's not Buendia at all.

I agree. We don’t need any more smaller, technical players. We need to start finding bigger, more pacey players. Give me the option between Buendia and Sarr, and it’s Sarr every day of the week. Both good players. But at this moment in time Villa require the break neck speed ability of something like a Sarr. Doesn’t come cheap but that’s what we need. I retain hope that Traore will show us much more of his worth with a bit more time, I think that once he’s gained some confidence by settling in and getting to grips with the physicality then we’ll see a different player to what we’ve seen thus far. 

[OxfordVillan]

11 hours ago, useless said:

Norwich are a selling club and would be happy to get £30m for Buendia, wouldn't be surprised if you could get him for less than that, no way anyone would pay anywhere near £40m.

Not sure why right wingers are being talked about anyway unless Trézéguet or Traoré get long term injuries or one of them leaves there's very little chance that we will be spending money on a position where we're already well covered and we have FFP to think about and only so much space in the squad.

In January can only see us trying to buy a centre forward, any other signings will probably depend on whether we get injuries or not or if anyone leaves.

Though I agree that Norwich are a selling club (in reality like most clubs are) I don’t think they’d be in a hurry to sell Buendia. Norwich are run cautiously and they didn’t blow their Premier League windfall last season, far from it. So they are financially sound. They sold Godfrey & Lewis for around a combined £40m in the summer, they are getting year 1 parachute payment.  Buendia is worth far more to them in terms of getting them promoted and back into Premier League money again. The only way that changes is if Buendia kicks up a stink about wanting to leave or Norwich are well out of the promotion race, which they won’t be. 

I’d probably now agree that a left sided forward and a CF would be the best use for us at this moment in time. It’s clear to all that an option/competition to Watkins is needed, and with Watkins able to move either left or right of his main position it would bring a lot more flexibility. The left sided forward would allow Grealish to move inside and play the No.10 role if required. 
The problem is finding a left sided forward.

[OxfordVillan]

10 hours ago, zab6359 said:

If we do any business at all and I don't think we will tbh it'll be a CF as back up to Ollie as Wes seems a fair way out still. We have plenty of wingers that will see us through this season comfortably, happy to bet my first born we don't buy a wide player in this window.

How old is the 1st born, and what are the current running costs?  These would need to be considered before taking up any bet!

[GingerCollins29]

11 hours ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I don't get why people think that. Brpoks, Buendia are more of what Traore and Grealish already offers.

A new winger needs to be a clinical finisher with lots of pace and directness. That's not Buendia at all.

Who then? If we are looking for clinical finishers then do you not trust watkins?

[GingerCollins29]

8 hours ago, Digavilla said:

Would definitely love to see Buendia join us , fair price think would be around 25m-30m , considering Benhrama went for 25m , and Brenda has more experience

[sne]

I imagine some French clubs will be forced to sell their top assets due to a combination of Covid-19 and the collapse of the TV-deal for Ligue 1.

PSG will obviously be fine but pretty much everyone else might be in real trouble. Some fantastic talents in that league and maybe some we could attract with a bit of luck (and money)

Edit: Mohamed Simakan is one we've already been linked with but he's supposedly close to Milan even thou they have not agreed terms with Strasbourg yet

Edited December 19, 2020 by sne

[OxfordVillan]

2 minutes ago, sne said:

I imagine some French clubs will be forced to sell their top assets due to a combination of Covid-19 and the collapse of the TV-deal for Ligue 1.

PSG will obviously be fine but pretty much everyone else might be in real trouble. Some fantastic talents in that league and maybe some we could attract with a bit of luck (and money)

Yes, ligue 1 could be very fertile territory now for premier league clubs. 

[KenjiOgiwara]

45 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said:

Who then? If we are looking for clinical finishers then do you not trust watkins?

I'm not scout, but I know enough about football to see what we're clearly missing. As for trusting Watkins, that's a bizarre comment to make. I think Watkins is great, but we have ONE quality striker. He can get suspended, injured or simply be off form. We need rotation options. The reason it's ideal to be someone that also can play wide is that it makes us more flexible and adaptable, and having a right winger with pace is something we desperately are missing. 

Secondly we had close to 30 finishes last match. It ended 0-0. Do you need more explanations than that, as to why we need more good finishers in this squad? 

[MrSmirch]

7 hours ago, paul514 said:

442 is dead those days are gone

The 442’s sluttier and better looking cousin, the 424 is the future.

[Vive_La_Villa]

I get Buendia is a good player but is he what we need? It’s not like we are struggling to create chances. 

[penguin]

7 hours ago, paul514 said:

442 is dead those days are gone

It's certainly not in "fashion" at the moment but Southampton seem to be doing alright with it. Formations will always have their ups and downs in terms of usage, it's far from dead.

[VillaChris]

10 hours ago, paul514 said:

Well it was supposed to be Traore, it may well still be but we knew we would still want another one or two of them when the budget allowed.

Surely no one believes that El Ghazi is good enough going forward or Trez even though he works so hard.

We have taken the mid table step last summer,  we could cement that step with a few signings to make that bench better and cover some injuries but the next step does not include those wide forwards so that is why they are mor important than a striker of which we may have two which are good enough, that’s to be confirmed. Wide forwards can also play upfront.

Trez will be starting when he gets back so it will just be him-Watkins-Jack up to end of January like it's been for majority of the season.

If someone Barkley lite comes up perhaps available on loan I'd like us to take it but suspect we'll wait until the summer.

In shorter term I'd get a new striker in and have a look at what Jack- New CF- Watkins could look like.

[VillaChris]

3 hours ago, sne said:

I imagine some French clubs will be forced to sell their top assets due to a combination of Covid-19 and the collapse of the TV-deal for Ligue 1.

PSG will obviously be fine but pretty much everyone else might be in real trouble. Some fantastic talents in that league and maybe some we could attract with a bit of luck (and money)

Edit: Mohamed Simakan is one we've already been linked with but he's supposedly close to Milan even thou they have not agreed terms with Strasbourg yet

We've been looking at a couple from Marseille I think, Morgan Sanson has been linked a few times over last 18 months so that might be one although Marseille doing well this season.

Given we've already signed from Lyon we obviously have the link there. Moussa Dembele's stock has actually fallen a bit in last 12 months, he dosen't start regularly for them anymore so wonder if 30-40m would tempt them. Tino Kadewere has come in for him and scored some big goals for them v PSG and Monaco in last few weeks but don't know if he's a major prospect. Also like all three of their Brazil midfielders aswell so perhaps Doug can have a word with Pacqueta or Guimaraes.

[sne]

13 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

We've been looking at a couple from Marseille I think, Morgan Sanson has been linked a few times over last 18 months so that might be one although Marseille doing well this season.

Given we've already signed from Lyon we obviously have the link there. Moussa Dembele's stock has actually fallen a bit in last 12 months, he dosen't start regularly for them anymore so wonder if 30-40m would tempt them. Tino Kadewere has come in for him and scored some big goals for them v PSG and Monaco in last few weeks but don't know if he's a major prospect. Also like all three of their Brazil midfielders aswell so perhaps Doug can have a word with Pacqueta or Guimaraes.

Thauvin is out of contract in the summer and they might wan't whatever little they can get for him in January?  Doubt we are his preferred destination but he would be a nice upgrade.

[Demitri_C]

10 hours ago, paul514 said:

He’s fine for a loan but I wouldn’t put in an offer the obligation to purchase.

What about if he gets 10 goals for us then someone comes in for him? I think a option if we want to buy is fine as long as its not obligated to purchase him

[villa4europe]

11 hours ago, paul514 said:

442 is dead those days are gone

[TRO]

I like the look of Ademola Lookman, for a reasonable fee.....looks lively, plenty of athleticism and disrupts defenders.

or David Brooks.

Edited December 19, 2020 by TRO

[TRO]

4 hours ago, MrSmirch said:

The 442’s sluttier and better looking cousin, the 424 is the future.

its more about what the players do than what the system does....most systems morph as the dynamics of the game change anyway.

[TRO]

On 10/11/2020 at 15:52, VillaChris said:

I'd like us to have a proper go.

This is the abnormal season you get every 5 years (last one was Leicester winning it) and with our fixtures up to late December I think there's a decent chance we'll either be in top 6 or very close to it by time next window opens so will be in attractive position to get in good players.

Can understand people saying wait until next summer but we saw in the MON era sometimes tomorrow never comes e.g. winning trophies and qualifying for CL so I'd rather strike in a season where we've shown we're pretty good. And there won't be the oddness of BCD and other stuff next season.

Having a proper go btw dosen't mean blowing 80m on players as January is always a bit of a panic buy month but looking at 1-2 good level players who are out of favour at present clubs. Plenty were turning their noses up at Giroud last January when he was sort of linked but I imagine the impact of Barkley so far has softened people and shown that a short term loan that can raise the quality of the 11 isn't the axis of evil it's sometimes portrayed on here.

In terms of targets I imagine we'll be after an LB given Taylor will be off our books in six months time. Targett been pretty good this season but one injury and it's back to Taylor and the end of overlapping LB runs and good crosses. Same at CB. Mings pulls up and we would put AEM there who to best of my knowledge has never played at prem level as a central defender.

Not sure we'll do anything upfront if Wesley comes back and looks o.k in sub cameos.

I'd also really like a central midfield who's really good against the press. Perhaps not someone who'll come in and start every game but gives us options to change the shape v likes of Leeds and Southampton as we still struggle to impose ourselves v that type of opposition.

Also have to remember eventually our regular players will start to tire late on in the season given they're playing every minute of every game so far so we need more options for that otherwise we'll hit the wall in March and go on a winless run just like in the MON seasons when we lost ground on top 4.

Going to be an interesting month I suspect with some good links to players.

Me too, a powerful No6 to mix it up.